Thousands embrace 'hugging saint' in Seattle

By JOHN IWASAKI, P-I REPORTER

Updated 10:00 pm, Thursday, June 1, 2006

The Amma, or hugging saint (whose full name is Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi), meditates with hundreds of followers at the Seattle Center on Thursday.
Photo: Karen Ducey/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The Amma, or hugging saint (whose full name is Sri Mata...

Jyota Borges, now living in Seattle, places a garland around the Amma.
Photo: Karen Ducey/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Jyota Borges, now living in Seattle, places a garland around the Amma.

Prema Vijayakrishnan (far left) and her daughter Pooja,13, and friend Avanti, 12 wait in line to get a hug from The Amma at the Seattle Center on Thursday.
Photo: Karen Ducey/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Prema Vijayakrishnan (far left) and her daughter Pooja,13, and...

Deedee (left) and Chris Almida from Stanwood, and their sons London, 3,(bottom right) and Micah, 9 months, get a hug from Amma. "It's beautiful. It's pure love. It feels good and warm." said Deedee. The Amma, or hugging saint, appeared at Seattle Center on Thursday.
Photo: Karen Ducey/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The East Indian woman known as the "hugging saint" made her annual visit to the state Thursday, embracing several thousand people at the Seattle Center.

Devotees waited patiently in line for perhaps 15 to 30 seconds with Mata Amritanandamayi, known as Amma ("Mother"), who has wrapped her arms around millions of people around the world while promoting peace and harmony.

"The reason I come is, it's kind of like the beginning of a new year," said Gwen Benedict of Burien, who has not missed any of Amma's local visits over the past 15 years. "I get a lesson from Amma. It's almost like she talks to me."

Actually, Amma often does speak a mantra during a hug.

"She said, 'Love is the answer; love is the way,' " said Berlin resident Jyota Borges, who hugged Amma for the first time Thursday.

Amma, 52, was born in a poor fishing village in India and grew up wondering why people suffered and starved. She immersed herself in meditation and discovered what she described as a oneness with creation.

That started her spiritual mission, manifested in large-scale hugfests and extensive humanitarian work, including disaster relief and working with schools, orphanages and hospitals. Her work is financed by donations of money and labor and by sales of her videos, CDs, tapes, books, shawls, jewelry and other items.

"I don't see any difference between myself and people who come to see me," Amma said through a translator as she continued giving hugs. "Their happiness is my happiness and their sadness is my sadness, so I reflect both."

Amma does not follow any major organized faith -- "My religion is love, compassion, selfless service," she said -- but does not oppose them, as long as they emphasize the spiritual and not philosophical.

"At the end of the day, someone like her is an avatar, an enlightened being," said Krissie Illing of France, a comedian who is working in Seattle with Borges, a singer, in a theater company.

Though Amma's hugs are "not a magic potion," they are powerful because society has become so impersonal, Borges said.

Elise "Mo" Durocher, a stage manager working with Borges and Illing, agreed. "I live in a building, and I don't even know my neighbors."